It’s been three decades since I opened my first pack of baseball cards. And less than five years into my hobby career, cards went from being just cards to being chase-worthy investments — at least that’s what we the collectors were being sold.

At the front of this movement was the almighty Elite Series insert set, which started in 1991 as one of the hobby’s most iconic chase sets to date.

Imagine if you will opening dozens, hundreds or even thousands of packs and see nothing but blue and green borders and then … bam, a bronze foil border card with a marble-like design embedded within and a serial number on back.

By today’s standards, Elite cards wouldn’t be much to gloat about, but in 1991, it was something most would only dream of.

My dream of pulling an Elite Series card actually came true in 1993 when I fished an Eddie Murray out of a pack at Target. As I’ve told people before, the story goes that I was opening a pack while my mom was paying for it and other stuff. When I saw the shiny foil, I dropped an f-bomb that made everyone from my mother to the people in line to the cashier stop what they were doing and look my way. Hey, I was 13.

Anyhow, i eventually made it a goal to complete the first three Elite Series (1991, 1992 and 1993) sets including the autographs — a feat that was accomplished a few years ago and documented in one of my Beckett Baseball columns.

I’ve since moved on to the next three years. And while the passion to finish it came and went over time, I got the itch recently to put those next three sets to rest and with a little help from Tanner at CansecoCollector.com I was able to get the elusive 1995 Elite Series Jose Canseco that I couldn’t find.

And so, here is a visual look at the first six years of Elite Series Insert cards. You’ll notice that the dynamic of the set has changed over time. It started as an 8-card set with one legend and one autograph. Then next two years the base Elite set grew and continued to include a legend and autograph. By 1994, the Elite Series set was scaled back to just 12 basic Elite cards — no more autographs or legends. Nonetheless, they were still special.

So, my intention was to hit you guys next with another short post about items that I found at The National. But on this day, I actually have a fresh Thrift Treasures post based on items that I found just a few hours ago.

I made the rounds to one of the local thrift stores this morning and while looking at about a dozen baggies or so, some random guy walks up to me and asks if I’ve ever been to a nearby town, which is one of the rich cities in the neighborhood. I give him a stare as if my eyes were saying “why the hell are you asking me this?’

A few seconds of silence pass and he says, ” well, they have this thrift store there. They have a bunch of cards in boxes … and they are cheap.” The man tells me baseball cards are not his thing, so he figured he’d let me know.

Five minutes later I’m on the freeway headed to said thrift store, which i did not know even existed.

Located in an old house turned into a store front, I located the cards he spoke of.

My jaw dropped and my heart skipped a beat because as you can see from the picture, they had multiple boxes marked as 1989 Upper Deck baseball sets. I opened them and determined that all cards were in there … except for THE card, the Ken Griffey Jr. Each box was priced at $4. Even at $4 those sets are decent. There are some iconic cards and some good rookies. The issue I had was that I already had three 1989 UD Sets. I decided to pass.

What I did walk away with though was a complete 1987 Fleer baseball set, which had a Will Clark and Bo Jackson rookie card sitting in Top Loaders on top of the set inside the box. I then checked to see if card 604 was there. Barry Lamar Bonds was indeed there. The Bonds single can be had for about $4, but I’ll take the whole set for this price. I always liked this set anyway.

And secondly there was a box of 1989 Donruss baseball sitting there. Wax packs completely and the box looking just as it did some 25 years ago when it came out of the case.

Well, I ripped the packs. No Griffey. Insert fail horn here.

But I did get a Randy Johnson, two Curt Schillings and a Craig Biggio. I also found a pack with a Don Mattingly Diamond King on the back,m so I kept that sealed. And I got to create these colorful pictures. Wee!

It dawned on me the other day that I mentioned in a Beckett column that I completed my run of 1991 through 1993 Donruss Elite Series
Insert cards but had not showed them off on this blog. So, here it goes:

It’s here! It’s finally here! Twenty years after its release, the 1993 Donruss Elite Signature Series Will Clark has come to the ‘Icon’s collection!

If you’re not familiar with this card, it was the last of the three Signed cards that Donruss inserted into packs from 1991 to 1993. The first was Ryne Sandberg, the second was Cal Ripken Jr, and the third is Clark.

All cards are serial numbered to 5,000; all were damn near impossible to pull from packs, and all still draw a premium on the market.

Here’s the funny thing though: Of the three cards, Clark seems to be the hardest to find on the secondary market is good condition. For some reason the signatures on Clark’s card faded like crazy over the years.

They usually approach and sometimes top triple figures when the ink is clear and readable. Obviously they go for considerably less when the blue ink has turned gray or even disappeared.

I nabbed mine in eBay from a reputable dealer virtually sight unseen. It was a bit of a gamble, but I’m thrilled with what arrived in the mail today.

The theme for today is combined shipping. As collectors in this day and age, we are all frustrated with inflated shipping costs. Sometimes a seller will charge upwards of $3 to ship a single, non-graded card. Ridiculous. So when you find that one dealer who has more than one card you want, and is willing to combine costs, you’d better take advantage of it. Yesterday I received three packages from three different eBayers. Keep reading to see the loot. Continue reading →